WASHINGTON - Sen. Orrin Hatch introduced what he calls compromise legislation to foster umbilical cord stem cell research, a move the Utah Republican says could ultimately save thousands of lives. "I see no greater way to promote life than finding a way to defeat untimely death and disease, and therapies from cord blood may be able to do just that," said Hatch, a pro-life conservative who has bucked the Bush administration to support expanded federal funding for embryonic stem cell study. Hatch's bill, co-sponsored by two Republicans and two Democrats, is aimed at creating a network of "qualified" public cord blood banking centers across the nation that would hold some 150,000 stem cell units. When combined with 5 million registered bone-marrow donors, Hatch's office says the inventory would enable 95 percent of Americans to get an appropriately matched cord blood stem cell transplant. Hatch's office points to research that says cord blood may be used as an effective alternative to bone marrow to treat some 70 diseases. The senator expects the legislation to pass Congress this summer. - Thomas Burr